The Bank of England is reportedly looking to establish a team of up to 30 experts to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Binance.US is having trouble finding a new banking partner to enable fiat transactions for its customers in the country. The exchange lost its banking services with the recent collapse Silvergate and Signature Bank, and now relies on intermediary banks to hold funds for it.

Popular decentralized exchange SushiSwap has seen a malicious actor exploit a bug that was introduced into its code four days ago for about $3.3 million worth of Ethereum. According to PeckShield, a wallet controlled by the victim was targeted by an “approve-related bug.”

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bank of England to Hire 30 Experts for Digital Pound Project
• Binance.US Struggles to Find a Banking Partner
• SushiSwap Bug Exploited for $3.3 Million in Ethereum
• Daily CME Volumes Hit the Highest Levels Since FTX Collapse

Bank of England to Hire 30 Experts for Digital Pound Project

The Bank of England is reportedly looking to establish a team of up to 30 experts to develop a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In February, the UK's central bank and finance ministry declared their intention to undertake further research and development on a digital version of the pound sterling and called on the public to offer input on the initiative.

The central bank hasn’t yet decided on whether a digital pound would use distributed ledger technology. Two new job openings for a digital pound project were posted on the bank’s website in late April, with one role for a Security Architect and another for a Solutions Architect for the digital currency. They offer up to £80,000 ($99,000) in salary.

The Treasury had already advertised for a Head of CBDC in January. A digital version of the pound sterling has, to the press, been dubbed Britcoin, although the central bank has expressed reluctance towards the term.

Binance.US Struggles to Find a Banking Partner

Binance.US is having trouble finding a new banking partner to enable fiat transactions for its customers in the country. The exchange lost its banking services with the recent collapse Silvergate and Signature Bank, and now relies on intermediary banks to hold funds for it.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the exchange also faces regulatory pressure from banks that are wary of crypto clients. The CFTC sued Binance Holdings and its CEO, CZ, in March for alleged trading violations, with the trading platform being under CFTC investigation since 2021.

The exchange needs a bank to hold its customer’s U.S. dollars directly, but it has not been able to secure direct banking partnerships with banks like Cross River Bank and Customers Bancorp.

The lack of a direct bank has affected Binance.US customers. The exchange said in a recent status update that it “was moving to new banking and payment service providers over the next few weeks,” and that some U.S. dollar deposit services would be temporarily disrupted during the move.

Binance.US is for now using the fintech firm Prime Trust to store customer funds. A spokesperson for the firm said the funds are held with its banking partners.

SushiSwap Bug Exploited for $3.3 Million in Ethereum

Popular decentralized exchange SushiSwap has seen a malicious actor exploit a bug that was introduced into its code four days ago for about $3.3 million worth of Ethereum. According to PeckShield, a wallet controlled by the victim was targeted by an “approve-related bug.”

The victim is a well-known member of the cryptocurrency community on social media, known as Sifu. Their wallet was targeted in SushiSwap’s RouterProcessor2 contract to steal about 1,800 ETH.

Ancilia, a cybersecurity firm backed by Binance, found that the bug was caused by not checking access permissions during a swap transaction. The firm also discovered the same vulnerable contract on the Polygon network.

SushiSwap’s “head chef” Jared Gray verified the bug and exploit an hour later, and advised users who have used the SushiSwap blockchain to revoke all permissions given to its contracts. The DEX has since moved to identify addresses affected by the exploit and rescue funds, and added there is currently no risk with using the Sushi Protocol or its user interface.

Daily CME Volumes Hit the Highest Levels Since FTX Collapse

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) saw a 40.5% increase in BTC Futures volume in March, reaching $35.1 billion, the highest since May 2022. BTC Micro Futures volume also rose 46.2% to $697 million.

March also had a 30.2% increase in BTC futures contracts traded, with 276,542 contracts. This only counts CME’s Bitcoin Futures, which have 5 Bitcoin as the underlying asset. It does not count Bitcoin Micro Futures, which have 1/10th of a Bitcoin as the underlying asset.

Get a detailed and unbiased analysis of the cryptocurrency exchange industry via CCData’s Exchange Review report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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